EDUCATION:

DRAKE UNIVERSITY, Bachelor of Art in Graphic Design, Second Major Journalism & Mass Communications

TECHNICAL SKILLS:

Adobe Creative Cloud: Acrobat, Bridge, Express, Firefly, Illustrator, InCopy, InDesign, Lightroom, Photoshop
Content Management Systems: Drupal, Squarespace, Wordpress, iDSS Cyclone
Email Marketing Management: Constant Contact, HubSpot, Mailchimp
Microsoft Office/365: Edge, Entourage, Excel, PowerPoint, Publisher, OneDrive, OneNote, Outlook, SharePoint, Teams, Word
Asset Production: Pagination, Lamination, Printing, Scoring, Folding, Spray Mounting, Trimming, Spiral Binding
Social Media Management: Facebook, Instagram, Meta Business Suite, Pinterest,TikTok, Twitter/X, YouTube
Workflow & Project Management: Asana, Slack, Trello, Wrike
Web-Based Tools: Canva, ChatGBT, Dropbox, Figma, Google Analytics

EXPERIENCE:

Cedar Rapids Tourism

Director of Marketing & Communications, 2021-2025
Develop and execute marketing, communications and creative strategies that promote Cedar Rapids as a vacation, business and sporting event destination using multiple channels and approaches • Manage all marketing, advertising, editorial and creative budgets, projects, content (digital, web, print and events), schedules and vendor partner relationships • Planning and project management of new website development, multi-year market research projects and high-profile presentations and project bids • Media liaison • Leadership, mentoring and development of team members • Track all analytics across campaigns, channels and websites • Serve as brand manager creating, evolving and maintaining brand style guides • Create reports (annual, market research, ROIs, KPIs) and deliver to stakeholders

West MusIC COMPANY

SENIOR GRAPHIC DESIGNER, 2015-2021
Lead design and marketing team, assign and track department projects and work flow, plan and schedule long-term projects and campaigns, train and oversee interns and junior team members • Design, illustrate and produce advertising and promotional materials including catalogs, posters, billboards, point-of-sale, web graphics, tradeshow graphics, social media and direct mail across multiple brands • Write and edit copy as needed • Create and apply in-house style, develop templates, update/refresh brands and enforce style guides. Develop and maintain vendor relationships • Work closely with internal and external clients

CLARETIAN PUBLICATIONS

DESIGN & PRODUCTION EDITOR, 2013-2016
Art direction, design, production and photography for U.S. Catholic magazine and supporting newsletters • Create custom illustrations and infographics • Design and update advertising and marketing pieces • Develop and maintain stock art database, style guides and templates • Work closely with outside vendors and illustrators to assure high-quality and low-cost • Proof and submit edits for all editorial content, write headlines and decks when required • Troubleshoot and preflight ads • Support web team with image research, concepts and creation, write and pitch editorial content for media reviews

GEARHEAD COMMUNICATIONS

SENIOR ART EDITOR, 2010-2012
Succeed in fast-paced, deadline-driven environment executing design and production for Premier Guitar magazine • Oversee design and production team • Establish and manage editorial and production schedules • Build pagination balancing editorial/advertising with layout needs • Create and update templates • Preflight, track and place all ads • Modify, export and link digital edition for web and mobile • Shoot product photos for use on covers, web, promo pieces and editorial • Design and produce all marketing, collateral and branding materials

EXHIBITOR MEDIA GROUP

GRAPHIC DESIGNER, 2004-2010
Design from concept through production for EXHIBITOR and Corporate EVENT magazines • Create brochures, tradeshow graphics, event materials, t-shirts, invitations and branding for CTSM, FastTrak and EXHIBITORLive while maintaining distinct corporate identities • Oversee free-lancers, illustrators and interns

WELLS FARGO FINANCIAL

OPERATIONS PROCESSOR II, 2002-2004
Process account adjustments • Train new team members

Community Involvement:

Midwest Travel Journalists Association, Destination Representative, 2021-2025
Destinations International Marketing Summit, Salt Lake City, UT, 2024
Iowa Tourism Conference, Des Moines, 2022-2024
Women Lead Change Conference, Cedar Rapids, IA, 2023
On Your Mark Iowa, University of Iowa Portfolio Reviewer, March 2020
St. Frances of Rome, Chicago, IL, Volunteer English Teacher, 2013 – 2015
Minnesota Magazine Publishing Association, Minneapolis, MN, Design Awards Judge, 2005 – 2010
American Institute of Graphic Arts (A.I.G.A.) Design Camp Attendee, Brainerd, MN, 2007